"outfront" next, a new week of conflict begins between israel and gaza. no end in sight tonight. israel's ambassador to the united states "outfront." thousands of israeli troops with tanks are now poised at the gaza

border, ready to move in in a ground invasion if necessary. israel says a ground war is a possibility, but does it add up? and new questions tonight in the benghazi investigation. the cia talking points. congress wants to know who changed the talking points an why and we think we know who did. let's go "outfront." good evening, everyone, i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, under attack. day six of the conflict between israel and gaza. is there an end in sight? tonight, thousands of israeli troops are poised at the border, ready to move at gaza. negotiations speer headed by egypt are ongoing, and tonight the united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon arrived in cairo, just hours after egypt's intelligence chief gave an israeli delegation a letter from hamas outlining its conditions for a cease-fire.

so far on the israeli side, officials say throw people have died. 68 have been wounded as the result of rocket fire from gaza and in gaza, officials say 104 people have been killed. 860 have been wounded since the conflict began. as for fire power, israel says militants in gaza have fired nearly 1,000 rockets at israel. 570 of them have actually struck israel. another 307 have been intercepted by israel's so-called iron dome defense system. meanwhile, israel carried out 80 strikes today. it has now targeted 1,300 sites in gaza since it began its bombing campaign last wednesday. ben wedeman is in gaza city tonight. ben, how are civilians dealing with this conflict? some of those numbers we hear, 870 people injured are frightening. >> yeah, they're not dealing very well with it.

it's a very difficult situation. you have to keep in mind, erin, that here in gaza, they don't have early warning systems. they don't have bomb shelters. they don't have an iron dome system to protect them. so, they feel very exposed. don't see a lot of people out in the street. when they do go out, they do it so very quickly. they get supplies. and really, they're just watching the television. listening to the news. awaiting to see if israel is going to go ahead with its ground incursion because as difficult as the situation is now, it will become much, much worse if israeli forces enter. probably much higher civilian casualties. as we saw four years ago, there was a heavy death toll. almost a rather more than 1,400 killed, so there's a lot of trepidation about what could be just around the corner. >> and ben, i know right before you literally came on the air with us, there were a couple of rockets that went off behind

you. how frequently do they strike? >> they're sporadic and in no sense is it through the the day. every few hours. you'll hear sort of a deep roar and push as it goes out. i say that's about a third of a mile from here. about four or five rockets went out. but we saw them way up in the sky hit by those missiles of israel's iron dome system, so it doesn't appear that they actually reached their targets. on the other side of the border. >> thank you very much. reporting from gaza and now, let's go to israel. fred is in ashkelan, and does the escalation you've seen in this conflict seem different than what you've seen in prior

conflicts between hamas and israel? >> reporter: well, certainly, if you look at the civilian population here, they seem to be a lot more worried than in the past. one of the things that's going on is that there are a lot of rockets falling down on the area here around gaza. certainly a lot more than you would have at normal times, but also more than other conflicts in the past and a lot of those rockets seem to be flying further. we've seen rockets on lake tel aviv that are very far away from the gaza strip, so certainly, people here are very worried. about 80% of the businesses are closed. people are staying indoors and keeping their children indoors, so yes, in many ways, this conflict is a lot more worrisome than in the past. >> thank you very much. and now, the chief representative of the general delegation of the palestine liberation degree gags of the united states. thanks for taking the time as we try to understand this. let me start by asking, which is

that hamas had delivered the terms for a cease fire, which the egyptian intelligence has given to israel. is that the case as you understand it? >> well, our understanding is that egypt is being very active, working with all sides in order to secure a cease fire. we do not know exactly the details of the -- of the cease fire, but the position is very clear. there has to be an end to this brutal israeli campaign against innocent civilians in the gaza strip. you mentioned in your report earlier, 104 dead so far. 851 dead. this is the equivalent to 19,500 americans and 160,000 american wounded. so there has to be an immediate end to this madness carried out by the israeli military. >> when you said you weren't sure of the details, i just want to hone in on that. as the plo, i'm curious as to how often, how close, how closely you're talking to hamas right now.

and do you fully support everything that they have done in this conflict so far? >> we are in close contact with the egyptians. we are in close contacts with many parties in the region. europeans, the united states. and we have been updated and informed about some of the progress that has been taken place in the last few hours. regarding egyptian efforts to reach a cease fire. what it comes to our differences with hamas, we may have differences. this is normal, but what is happening in the gaza strip, a direct attack on innocent civilians, palestinians who are being killed and wounded. yesterday, 24. today, 34. in the last two days alone, half of the people who were killed were killed in the last two days. we are witnessing a deliberate escalation on the part of the israelis to cause as much

possible civilian deaths. >> you really think they're trying for civilian deaths? that seems like a bit of a stretch, doesn't it? >> what else? what you have is official figures that can be verified by different media outlets. the majority of the people that are being killed today are civilians. >> but isn't that partially because of the tight, cramped quarters in the gaza strip and also the israeli say you've got militants and hamas militants hiding in mosques and schools and purposefully putting civilians in front of them? >> well, this is something that i don't think independent sources can verify. the gaza strip is densely populated area. the chances of civilian casualties are higher than any other area. the gaza strip is twice as big as washington, d.c. but it has three times as much population as washington, d.c. yesterday, the israelis dropped a bomb on a building with objective of killing supposedly a hamas commander.

they ended up killing 11 people from one family, including four children under the age of 10. so, israel has a very sophisticated military and they are causing these innocent civilian deaths. >> we are doing to talk more about those four children later in the program, but ambassador, i wanted to share a poll with you and get your point of view on what this means for you. we here asked americans in the middle east who are your sympathies more with. 59% said their sympathies are with israel. 13% say they are with the palestinians. what does this mean for you? i mean, that is i think to describe it as an uphill battle is not even the right word. >> my personal experience with americans is definitely is contrary to this kind of poll. i talk to americans, i talk to ordinary americans and find a lot of sympathy with the palestinians struggle for

freedom and we are just out from a recent elections where most polls were proven wrong. i don't look at polls. i think the majority of them the american people believe in justice. believe in fairness. and sometimes, the media with their exaggerated headlines, rockets reigning on israel, sometimes, they also influence and impact audiences and people, but i am confident that the majority of the american people do not tolerate such brutality against an innocent population and they are definitely in favor of ending this conflict in a way that will help the palestinians realize that objectives of becoming independent and free. >> ambassador, thank you very much for your time to want. we appreciate it. you've just heard the palestinian side. next, we're going to turn our attention to israel.

michael orrin responds. "outfront," next. and the neighbor of american internet tycoon john mcafee found murdered. tonight, mcafee in hiding. the strange case involves very young women and poisoned dogs. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprisfinancial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪

(child screaming underwater)... (underwater noises). energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy development comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed

to safely and responsibly providing generations of cleaner-burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self-contained well systems. and, using state-of-the-art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment. we're america's natural gas.

our second story, murder in paradise. john mcafee is believed to be hiding in belize after the murder of his neighbor on an island off the central american coast. while police say the megamillionaire is not a suspect, they want to question him and his response has been bizarre. cnn's martin savidge is in belize with details on a case involving young women, poisoned dogs and bad blood. >> i'm sitting in john mcafee's front yard. i can sit here because this is actually the beach and here in belize, the beach is considered public property. the house back there, the purple and yellow, the lights are on, but nobody's home. it's also in this spot that yesterday, i had an interesting

conversation with a young woman who claims to be one of seven of mcafee's lovers. tiffany as she called herself, didn't want to be seen. like mcafee, she fears the police. when was the last time you saw him? >> sunday. around 11:15. >> do you know where he is now? >> no. >> now, a day later, tiffany's gone, too. the only residents left are dogs. and dogs may play a central role in this murder mystery. officials say they're barking and aggressive behavior was a frequent source of friction between mcafee and his neighbor, greg fall, who lived here. last friday, mcafee told police someone poisoned four of his dogs and to tut putt them out of their misery, he shot them. two days later, somebody shot greg fall, once in the head and mcafee vanished. martin savidge, cnn, belize.

>> we are following here, very, very bizarre story. just a few moments ago, you heard the plo's ambassador to the united states say israel is purposely targeting civilians. israel's ambassador responds and talks about a ground war after this. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level.

let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. we find the best, sweetest craforelobste that we can find. [ malennounc ] it'ti focrabfestt red lobster! his ar, y 1 of 5ntrees like our ne crab d garlic shri. half-pou otender crab pair with savory shrimp. st 12.99. odig into our hearty crab and roasted garlic seafood bake all with salad and unlimited cddar bay biscuit so much to choose from, so ittle time. so come into red lobster for abfest today and sea food differentlrom, so ittle time. so come into red lobster for abfest today ♪ first rule of taking the world by surprise? do something the world will actually notice. introducing the entirely new ford fusion. with a turbo-charged ecoboost engines and a hybrid that

doubles the fuel economy of the average vehicle. it's an entirely new idea of what a car can be. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

our third story "outfront," the israeli response. day six now of the conflict between israel and gaza. earlier in the program, we spoke with the plo's representative to the united states and joining me now is michael orrin. good to speak with you an i want to start off the top. he was talking about israel and gaza and said that israel is purposely targeting civilians. what do you say? >> well, first of all, it's odd, erin, that the representative to the palestine liberation hamas. in 2007, hamas threw the plo out of gaza in the process, it threw the leaders off and shot them dead in the street. the same representative in the plo to go back to gaza today, his fate would probably be about the same. but no, of course, we're not

targeting civilians. the fact we're making superhuman efforts to avoid inflicting civilian casualties. it's difficult. we are sending out tens of thousands of text messages, dropping tens of thousands of leaflets warning civilians who are libel to be hit by our military to evacuate in time. it's difficult because the hamas organization is severely embedded in the civilian population, and they're using that population as human shields. we're trying to avoid human casualties. hamas is doing its -- they're a terrorist organization. we're a democracy. >> let me ask you about whether the hamas was using civilians as human shields, whether they're hiding in mosques or schools. as i know israel has said that happens. do you have proof that's happen something. >> we've seen it from the air. we have one case of an israeli pilot who targeted a long range rocket, and at the last minute

had to abort his mission because there were children in the vicinity. right in the playground. that long range rocket later, they fired at tel aviv, so we pay a price, but that's our code of ethics and we're going to stick by them. >> we also have reported here that egypt's intelligence chief has handed over hamas terms for a cease-fire. a first foray, perhaps to the israelis. is there a cease fire on the table right now? >> well, i can't go into behind the scenes details, but we want to fighting to stop. we want hamas to stop shooting at our civilians. we've had 5.5 million israeli under hamas rocket fire. that's well over half of our population and it's very simple. they just have to stop shooting at us and stop creating a situation where they can shoot at us every week. that's the situation that existed before this round of fighting. we have to have a different status quo on the ground. once that is on the payable.

we will be interested. >> there are reports, of course, that benjamin netanyahu and mack mu abbas will both meet with ban ki-moon. i wonder if you think there's a possibility abbas and moon will meet directly? >> i know prime minister is ready to meet abbas in time, any place. he said it many times, in jerusalem, in ramallah, which is only a seven minute drive away. in new york, anywhere. >> okay, let me ask you about a ground war. when you're talking about the situation, if there isn't a cease-fire, you have 75,000 troops now masked to go into gaza. only 30% of the israeli public support a ground war according to the poll today. is a ground war likely? i mean, are you really, really mean it that you could do it? >> first, let's look at some of these reservice. i won't say 75,000, but a large number have been called up. this is israel, where young men, women, leave their families,

their kids, put on uniforms and go out to fight for their country. their fellow countrymen are under rocket fire. these are the minutemen and women of israel and yes, we are ready. we'd hope that the fighting will not escalate. we hope hamas will stop shooting at us, but at the end of the day, we have to take all legitimate and necessary measures to protect our citizens and if that includes ground action, it might have to include ground action, yes. >> when? how long are you going to wait? if they don't stop in the next day? i mean, do you have a deadline? >> well, put it this way -- again, i'm not going to go into tactical details on national television either, erin, but we are ready. we are prepared and we have a citizen's army. and that army is ready to defend the citizens of israel. >> i want to ask you specifically about egyptian

president mohammad morsi. i wanted to play you a brief clip from a campaign rally. in may of this year. this was a rally mohammed morsi was at. i wanted to play for you what it said. [ speaking foreign language ] >> again, that was a rally for mohammed morsi. and he was saying that the united states of the arabs will be restored by this man. the capital of the united states

of the arabs will be restored by this man. come on you lovers of martyr dom. do you trust morsi? >> we focus on deeds rather than words an egypt has filled a constructive role in the past and we hope egypt will continue to fill that role. >> do you think this could if you do have a deal, lead to a real working relationship with the morsi government, where the treaty isn't in jeopardy, or do you think that is something way too pie in the sky? >> we're always welcoming of an improvement with egypt. we've had a peace treaty for 34 years. that is essential for us, but no less crucial for the egyptians. we all need stability and particularly, egypt now, needs that stability and we have every reason to believe that interest will continue. >> thanks as always for your time. >> thank you. >> we have new information on the benghazi investigation because we now know who is saying they made the changes to the cia talking points and

another european country got it today. oll it, fill, top, bake, and present. that must have taken you forever! it was really tough. [ female announcer ] pillsbury pie crust. let the making begin but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] dayquil doesn't treat that. huh? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus rushes relief to all your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪

[ gordon ] for some this line is a convenience. how you doing today? i'm good thanks. how are you? i'm good. [ gordon ] but for others, it's all they can afford. every day nearly nine million older americans don't have enough to eat. anything else? no, not today. join me, aarp, and aarp foundation in the drive to end hunger by visiting drivetoendhunger.org. in the drive to end hunger why they have a raise your rate cd. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank.

your money needs an ally. trying to find a better job can be frustrating. so at university of phoenix we're working with a growing list of almost two thousand corporate partners - companies like microsoft, american red cross and adobe - to create options for you. not only that, we're using what we learn from these partners to shape our curriculum. so that when you find the job you want you'll be a perfect fit. let's get to work.

we start the second half with stories we care about where we focus on our own reporting

from the front lines. first up, president obama soon returning to the united states. he was on a trip to asia. while there, he visited thailand and myanmar. his final stop was cambodia, where he took part in the southeast associations of asian nations. summit. wow. he also met with the camera bode yan prime minister where he talked about the need to provide human rights. one said the meeting was tense. it's been three weeks since sandy ravaged the east coast and the recovery is ongoing. tonight, many are are still without homes. businesses are still closed. new york city is still rationing gas. four new york city hospitals are still closed or only offering limited services and one o the main train services between new jersey and new york city is still operating with limited service. this video shows the new jersey path station flooding the night of the storm. these stations sustained significant damage.

it was a good day for the stock market. the dow was up nearly 208 points. nasdaq up by more than 2%. the s&p higher, too. the reason, traders are more optimistic the fiscal cliff will be avoided. they think leaders in washington will reach some sort of compromise on tax increases and government spending. we shall see if that optimism is merited. well, twinkies live for another day. the hostess brand and a key bakers union agreed to mediation. when hostess said it was closing last week, twitter and the world freaked out and blamed the union, which had been on strike since november 9th. the company said the strike was creating too much of a financial strain. today, a bankruptcy judge said he wanted to company and union to e meet one more time. that meeting is going to take place tomorrow. it's been 473 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? well, interesting thing happened today, moody's downgraded the country of france today. meaning france lost its aaa. now, this was something that was a long time and coming.

many including bill gross at pimco said it should have happened a long time ago. and this happened despite the fact that its president has been trying to raise taxes. our fourth story "outfront," those cia talking points. who changed them and why? we have new information for you tonight. we can report that the office of the director of national intelligence tells cnn that the talking points were changed by the intelligence community. now, congress has launched an investigation after former cia director david petraeus testified that he knew immediately after the september 11th attack in libya that the attack was carried out by terrorists linked to al qaeda. now, this, of course, contradicts what we heard from u.s. ambassador to the united nations, susan rice who said publicly on five sunday talk shows that the attack was spontaneous and sparked by an anti-muslim film. the director of the national

intelligence office says substantial changes were made before those talking points were sent. but the question still remains who made the changes an why and did anyone in the white house know the full unedited version of events which included that link to al-qaeda? tonight, the state department has no comment, neither does the cia. georgia senator johnny isaacsohn is on the foreign relations committee. he says the administration is accountable, he's demanding answers and he's "outfront" tonight. thanks very much for taking the time. as we can report, this is late r reporting here that we have tonight, but the bell jensen community is saying look, we made the changes, we made them. do you believe it? >> well, it's the first i've heard of it, eastern. you got me on a surprise, but i know director clapper very well. i'm not going to question his word, but it's a little late given all the testimony we had. we had late september briefings with director clapper in the room. no such admonition came out, so i'm a little bit surprised, but

somebody's got to fess up as to what happened. it wasn't susan rice. it was somebody in the administration or intelligence commune and we know it wasn't david petraeus. >> do you think it's possible that anyone at the white house could have known the full version of events or possible series of version of events and yes, they are handed an editeded version, the same one ambassador rice received, but they knew there were alternative ones that said it was preplanned, not spontaneous. >> for the administration to admit it wasn't informed, information the director said he had was hard for me to believe and means the administration really wasn't on top of their game. the most important issue we got here, a u.s. ambassador was murdered. first ambassador we've lost since 1979. three others were killed. we didn't have advanced intelligence to know the attack was going to take place. that sends a horrible message to our diplomats and we need to know why the administration tried to look the other way, tried to not pay attention to what somebody in the

administration already knew it was a terrorist attack. >> if it turns out that the dni altered -- substantially altered the talking points and they were the ones that did it, does that mean that clapper should do what? keep his job? not keep his job? wouldn't that mean he's responsible? >> i heard director clapper's testimony in the late september secured briefing we had. i can't discuss that, but nothing came up about any scrubbing of the information before it went to the white house. my colleague, senator chambliss is the ranking member on the intel committee. i'm sure he would want to know why the director didn't say it originally. and later did say it, and why he did that. >> so, let me ask you about what the white house says in terms of their version. as you know, they said look, we only changed one word. instead of calling it a consulate, we decided to call it a diplomatic facility. so they're being very careful, yes, when it came into our

hands, we only touched one thing. do you think that's -- that's reasonable or not? >> you know, everybody's trying to parse around words around the situation. if director clapper has come forward and look what he has said is absolutely accurate and he did change the information, we need to find out if the white house really did know that and if they did, why they alloweded it to happen and once again, ask ourselves the question, why did we not have the intel in advance of the attack to know it was going to take place and why weren't we capable of surrounding that ambassador and protecting his life? >> 97 house republicans signed a letter to the president urging him to not nominate ambassador rice for secretary of state. and the letter says, i just want to quote it in part, we believe her misleading statements over the days and weeks following the attack on our embassy in libya that led to the deaths of ambassador stevens and three others caused damage to her

credibility both at home and around the world. is there a scenario where you would vote for her as secretary of state if he nominates her? >> first and foremost, we have to get to the bottom of the truth. if we find out she read what she was told to read, had no other information to the contrary, we need to get to the root of the problem. but until this is worked out, until we know the facts, we don't need to have a nomination. >> even though at the time, there were many questioning already, that spontaneous was an inaccurate word, would you question her judgment? no, you truly believe she's the messenger and is innocent? >> i've been around the president long enough when he was in my party to know when you're asked to go on the top five news shows on sunday morning and you're giving talking points, you don't question them, you read them. >> that's good. fair that that might lead you to that conclusion. so, is the final word, sir, that you are not satisfied with where we are right now? if the dni intelligence community is the one that did all the alterations, that's not

the final say in your mind. you want more investigations still. >> i think we need to know why he didn't say that in the briefing in the secured environment at the end of september. long past now. i think we need to know why later he came forward, and we need to know why the white house didn't know, and if they didn't know, why they should have known. >> thank you very much senator isakson, we appreciate you taking the time as we try toll find out what happened on september 11th and after in benghazi. next, thousands of israeli soldiers are on the gaza border. he said a ground war's a possibility, but do israel's threats add up? special forces from israel faces off after this. and a new factory opens in iowa. we are going to tell you why this is a really big deal in america. oh no, not a migraine now.

try this... bayer? this isn't just a headache. trust me, this is new bayer migraine. [ male announcer ] it's the power of aspirin plus more in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migraines. new bayer migraine formula. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history.

so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ or that printing in color had to cost a fortune. nobody said an all-in-one had to be bulky. or that you had to print from your desk. at least, nobody said it to us. introducing the business smart inkjet all-in-one series from brother. easy to use. it's the ultimate combination of speed, small size, and low-cost printing.

at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke.

our fifth story outfront, ground war. as you heard earlier, michael orr pi n, the israeli ambassador to the united states told me that israel is done planning and ready to go ahead with the ground unvague if necessary. but what happens if the fighting escalates and turns into a ground war? israel has 14 times the number of ground troops as hamas, not to mention some of the most sophisticated hard wear in the world. seems like a clear advantage, right? well, there are very good reasons why the israelis have not plunged it. why the numbers are not the only part of the problem. >> if israel defense forces invade gaza, they'd likely go under the cover of darkness. >> where they have a tactical advantage on the battlefield through night vision equipment and the ability to operate in the dark.

>> but they'd likely find hamas better armed than it was four years ago. >> they have better tank weapons for sure. and they might be more capable of inflicting damage on israeli forces. >> jeff white says hamas' first line of defense will be a kilometer or twoness inside the border fence. they will try to draw the idf into kill zones of ieds, snipers, but the israelis beat that tactic until four years ago and now have new capabilities. >> they developed cameras they can actually roll or throw into a house. it shows them what's going on inside the house. >> geography works for and against hamas. gaza is densely populated. difficult for israel to fight in without causing some civilian casualties. but gaza is also long and narrow, which is terrible when you're trying to defend it. artillery stationed in israel

can reach all point of gaza because it's so narrow. israeli forces can move in from multiple entry points because it's so long. >> they can compartmentalize the fighting inside gaza. isolate one hamas from another and operate it selectively against pieces of the gaza strip. >> a former israeli general says israel is running out of targets outside of population centers while hamas leaders have holed up inside mosques. or among civilians. a ground war could lead to a situation similar to 2009, when a u.n. reform accused israel of committing war crimes in gaza. >> and that is weighing on the minds of israeli policymakers now as they consider whether to go into gaza on the ground. >> there's obviously some real questions.

chris lawrence is with me now. if israeli officials say they're going to go ahead with this, how big might the ground assault likely be? >> well, there are two scenarios being considered at least at this point. one is a full scale ground assault like we saw four years ago if not bigger. that would involve tanks, air born, everything. the other would be smaller, limited incursions using special operations forces. and smaller infantry units. that would be more of a targeted strike, going after say specific rocket launching sites that the air strikes have not been able to take care of. >> and what is mission accomplished? i mean, just because it seems this is so much a part of what hamas is such a part of civilian society as the israeli ambassador said. so, what do you have to do to quote unquote win? >> well, an israeli official told cnn o background, like an alcoholic with a bottle of whiskey in front of him. hamas with weapons means they're going to shoot them.

the temptation is just too great and now that they've demonstrated greater range in order to hit areas near tel aviv or jerusalem, that changes the calculus somewhat for israel. they do not want to be back in this situation in a few months. in other words, they're not going to cut a quick deal and be right back where they started before this. they want to send a very, very clear message to hamas not to fire these rockets. they want to cripple some of hamas' capability in terms of being able to reach inside israel. >> thanks, chris. well, "outfront" now, neftali bennett, is former chief of staff to benjamin netanyahu and a major in the ids special forces and ed hussein. senior fellow of middle eastern studies on the council of foreign relationship great to see both of you. neftali, let me start with you. you heard chris lawrence reporting that hamas is better armed now than it was a few years ago, but i think the israeli government has called up 75,000 reservists. some people i know had to say good-bye to their children. who were getting to go along the

border. does a ground invasion seem inevitable to you? >> it's not yet inevitable. we're at a cross roads, but you're right. there are tens of thousands of israeli soldiers ready to go in. the goal of such a entrance would be to stop the continuous import of missiles from egypt to the gaza strip. so the point is, we'd want to dry up the wellp missiles, because they keep shooting the missiles into israel. if we create a buffer zone between egypt and the gaza strip, then the missiles would dry up and stop shooting missiles on us. >> the leader of hamas said today to reporters, he was talking about israel, i'll quote him. if you wanted to launch, meaning a ground invasion, you would have done it. so is he daring them? it would not be good for israel, but it would be horrific for

gaza. >> it would mean thousands more egyptians and others going into gaza and israel fighting abroad or in the region. this is not in israel's interest. they're going to go, fight any way. you don't dry the well as major bennett suggested. you actually pour more fuel into a burning pit. >> neftali, what do you say to that? that this could be throwing fire into the well? i mean, and i ask that in the context of a poll today which said 30% of the israeli public supports a ground war. obviously, that's not very many. >> we're talking about al-qaeda style organization. hamas is funded and supported by iran. iran's goal is to eliminate israel. there's no peace to be discussed with people. who want to kill you. >> hamas is not funded by -- >> i want to give facts. erin, i just want to get to the facts. the facts are simple. seven years ago, israel vacated gaza, handed 100% over to the arabs.

they founded an independent state and within ten days they started shooting missiles at us. >> yeah, but you've been continuing -- >> the only question was why did we way so long? why did we wait seven years? that's a good question. but i'm asking you guys, if where you're sitting right now in new york was continuously targeted by missiles, would you be waiting? would you be asking questions? we need to act, we need to eliminate the terror and the ongoing terror that's hitting israeli cities. >> it's worth us remembering the facts on the ground, and they are hamas has been fighting -- people on the right of hamas, trying to stop them from attacking israel over the last several months. >> you're saying there are other groups there that are more violent. >> far more violent. far more rigid. >> neftali, would you agree with that? >> so basicallbasically, he's s have one group of nut cases

that's protecting us from another extreme group of nut cases? fortunately president bush didn't take his advice years ago. president obama fought al qaeda. you do not make peace, and you do not have any discussions with terrorists. that's a rule. you don't talk with terrorists, you fight them. >> i'm sad to say the resolve of your terrorists as you describe them is strong if not stronger. they're willing to die, that's not a commitment your people have. you should avoid that fate by realizing you made peace with -- >> mr. hussein -- >> it's the same deal again with hamas. >> terrorists come and go, we've had egyptians, romans, greek,o many people come and go. we're here to stay. do not doubt our resolve. the people of israel are strong. will do anything to stay in this country. and we will win, and we will beat these terrorists. >> when you all talked on this

show last week, you referred to the situation as having a right side and a wrong side. i thought about that over the weekend, people are dying on both sides. . it was an agonizing picture and they had been killed. when you see pictures of children being killed it's agonizing. it made me wonder why you think it's so clear cut. >> erin, i agree there's nothing worse than children dying. when the united states conquered germany in world war ii, lots of children died. lots of children died in japan in world war ii. that's what wars look like. when terrorists deliberately attack civilians in israel, yes, there will be casualties. but there is right and wrong. let's not make that mistake. in afghanistan, when you went and hunted down osama bin laden, america killed kids, not

deliberately, and no one blames you for supposedly being a terrorist. so there is right and wrong. >> gaz saturday gaza and afghanistan -- >> stop making the comparison. >> gaza is not afghanistan. >> the terrorists are hiding, they are hiding behind kids. they are hiding within hospitals. that's a terrorist act. the people who are killing those kids are the hamas. it's the palestinians killing their own kids, let's be very clear about that. there is a right and wrong. terror is wrong. defending yourself is right. >> after decades of american companies moving jobs overseas, there is something that happened today that is absolutely incredible. and we are going to tell about you it.

if we want to improve our schools... ... what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this.

he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the market, he goes with people he trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. so he can worry about other things, like what the market is doing and being ready, no matter what happens, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense, from td ameritrade.

when a new factory opens in a town things can change almost overnight. and that's why we're keeping an eye on weaver, iowa. weaver will be the new home of

the iowa fertilizer company. it's the first world scale ammonia plant built in this country in 25 years. expected to be completed in 2015, it will create 2500 construction jobs and 165 permanent ones. which is a big deal for weaver and for iowa, which is why as you can see, today's groundbreaking was attended by the state's governor and other officials. now, an interesting aspect of the story is who is behind the plant. it's owned by an egyptian company that owns and operates nitrogen fertilizer plants around the world, and while some weaver residents are worried about the project's environmental impact, we wanted to focus tonight on the positive aspects of this. it's proof that america is a great place to do business, and it is physical proof of america being an energy superpower. the united states energy information administration says we have 92 years worth of natural gas at current consumption rates. that's a huge competitive advantage and it means more plants like this and more american jobs. at a time when america's om